Trustworthy Parishes in Dallas
  • bgeorge77
    Posts: 190
    Don't know if this is the appropriate place to ask this, and I don't want to cause a riot, but can anyone inform me of trustworthy orthodox Catholic parishes in Dallas TX? Any rite, any use: just somewhere where I can send my cousin and not worry that he's going to get wimpy liturgy, wealth-deadened parishioners, or heresy.

    I love old down-towny churches, the ones with the "cripples, criminals, crazy folks and foreign types" lurking around at all hours. I feel very at home there, I think my cousin would see the beauty in that kind of place.

    Perpetual adoration sites a plus.
  • ghmus7
    Posts: 1,465
    Try:
    St. St. Thomas Aquinas
    St. Rita
    Holy Trinity Seminary
  • dad29
    Posts: 2,217
    And there is the Cistercian abbey (not really a parish) north across the freeway from the U of Dallas campus, 5 miles or so east of DFW.
  • bgeorge77
    Posts: 190
    Oh wow... thanks! dad29, do you know if the abbey is open to the public for liturgy? I see that there is a liturgical schedule on their website, but it doesn't say if it's open to the public or not.

    Thanks again y'all!
  • dad29
    Posts: 2,217
    At least for Sunday Masses it is open. And you'll find a LOT of people there.
  • Flambeaux
    Posts: 45
    Mater Dei Latin Mass Community is in the process of being erected as a parish by the Diocese of Dallas. The young FSSP chaplain is an excellent preacher. Sung Mass at 9 AM on Sundays; Low Mass at 11:30 AM on Sunday and at 6:30 AM M, T, W, and F. Low Mass also at 6:30 PM on Thursday and 8:00 AM on Saturday. They are located in Irving near the intersection of Loop 12 and Irving Blvd.

    Also in Irving, near the new location for Mater Dei, is St. Basil the Great Carpatho-Ruthenian Catholic Church if your cousin wants a Byzantine Rite experience, but I'm not sure what their schedule is at present.

    Out in Arlington there is St. Mary the Virgin, which is Anglican Use of the Roman Rite. Low Mass on Sunday morning at 8 AM and Sung Mass at 10:30 AM. Although the pastor is on vacation for the next couple of weeks, so the priest celebrating will be a Diocese of Ft. Worth provided substitute.

    It's actually a very good area, on balance, between the two Diocese.

    HTH
  • unfatmatt
    Posts: 29
    Is there a chant Mass at any of these parishes?
  • unfatmatt
    Posts: 29
    Here's a review for you.

    We decided that we'd go to St. Basil the Great Carpatho-Ruthenian Catholic Church. (They are in communion with Rome). The church is in a residential neighborhood, and looks like a very small school building, except for the big Eastern Cross on the top. The doors were carved wood. Inside the vestibule, icons lined the walls. Every square inch of the church was decorated with the traditional blue, icons, gold, carved wood, etc.. The humble congregation of appx 40 people had certainly done their best to make this small building a place of transcendent worship.

    My wife and I walked inside, and one woman introduced herself. I told her we'd never been to a Byzantine Rite church, and she was so joyful in helping us. The woman sat in the front row and told us to sit behind her so she could hold her hymnal over to show us the correct pages as the Mass progressed.

    The Mass lasted about 1 hr 15 min, and the congregation sang nearly the entire time (all in English).

    After Mass, the parish has coffee and doughnuts and the members were very hospitable. I will definitely go back the next time I'm in the Dallas area.
  • JamJam
    Posts: 636
    That would be "Divine Liturgy," rather than Mass, since Mass comes from the Latin... but we know what you mean. One hour fifteen is short! Did they cut out the repeated litanies?

    Eastern Christian churches are always a safe bet. If you want to receive communion, then of course go to one you are in communion with. The only Byzantine liturgy I've seen which failed in reverence was served by a borrowed Latin-Rite priest who didn't "get" it, I think.
  • unfatmatt
    Posts: 29
    I don't know if they cut anything out. The choir wasted no time between chants, and neither did the priest.
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